Folding square.



PATENTED JAN. Z9, 1907.

lprovi PATENT oEEIoE.

FOLDING SQUARE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Jan. 29, 1907.

Application 'led August 6,1906. Serial No. 329.283.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, J oIIN SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing. at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented' certain new and useful Improve` ments in Folding Squares, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in squares, and while it is moreespecially intended for use in what is known as Hcarpenters" or joinerssquares, yet it may be used in connection with other kinds; and itconsists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novelarrangement, and operation of the various parts thereof, as will behereinafter more fully set forth and speciiically claimed. 1

The principal object of the invention is to 'de a square havingdetachable members which adapt it for being knocked down when not inuse, thus rendering it convenient to handle and to pack in an ordinarytool-box.

Another object of the invention is to so construct the parts that themembers of the square may be detached one from the other Withoutentirely removing the locking-key, thus preventing its loss or.accidental displacement.

A still further object is to so construct the device that there will beno projections from either of the surfaces of the square, thus eniablingit to lie flatly on a plane or smooth surace.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be disclosed in thesubjoined description and explanation.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionpertains to make and' use the same, I will now proceed to describe it,lreferring to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face viewof a portion of a square .embodying my invention, showing the membersthereof locked in the positions l they will occupy when the square isready for use. Fig. 2 is a similar view of like parts, but showing thelocking-key in the position it will occupy when the members of thesquare are to be separated. Fig. 3 is a view o portions of the membersof the square, showing them detached and illustrating the locking-keyomitted from it's seat. Fig. 4 is A24, which are located a sectionalview taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3 looking in the direction indicated bythe arl rows. Fig. 5 is a view, partly in section and partly 1nelevation, taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detached perspectiveview of JOHN SMITH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. l

the locking-key.. Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7 7 .of Fig.1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows and showing themembers of the square locked together and Fig. 8 is a sectional viewtaken on line 8 3 of Fig. 2, showing the members of the square in theact of being separated from one another or joined together.

Like numerals of reference refer to corresponding parts throughout thedifferent views of the drawings.

The reference-numerals 10 and 11 designate the members of the square andmay be provided with a the ordinary or any preferred kind. As usual, oneof the membersfor instance, 1 1- is narrower and shorter than the othermember; but i this 1s not essential to the invention.

Each of the members has its meeting edge mitered, as shown, and themember 10 is formedin its mitered edge with a rectangular recess 12 toreceive a similarly-shaped tongue 13 on the mitered edge of the member11 or other member. This tongue .is provided with a dovetailed groove14, which extends across the tongue and is contracted toward one of itsends, as is clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The free end of thetongue is for the purpose of meeting a beveled portion 16 on the wall ofthe opening 12 opposite the open end of said opening. The member 10 hasin one` of its surfaces a depressed recess 17, which extends diagonallywith respect to the said member and has one of its edges in alinementwith the mitered edge thereof, which mitered edge is provided withtongues or ribs 18 to iit in grooves 19 on the mitered edge of the othermember. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, one ofthe walls 20 of the depressedrecess 17 is downwardly and outwardly inclined to engage thecorrespondingly-shaped edge of the locking-key 21, which is dovetailed,as'shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8, and has on one of its edges beveledrecesses 22 for the reception of headed bolts or screws 23 and in therecess 17 of the member 10 near one of the walls of said recess and oneach side of the opening 12 in said member. The heads of the screws orbolts 23 and 24 are downwardl I tapered, and said bolts or screws arefixed in themember l() so scale or graduated marks of 8 5y provided witha downwardly-beveled portion 15" IOO , its recessed edge will engage thescrews or shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings the members 10 and 11 will besecurely locked together and any movement thereof prevented.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A folding square consisting of two members each having its meetingedge mitered, one of said members having a rectangular opening in itsmitered portion and a depressed recess intersecting said opening, theother member having on its mitered edge a rectangular-shaped tongueprovided with a tapered dovetailed groove, and a wedgeshaped dovetailedkey movably located .in the depressed recess and said groove, subwstantially as described.

2. A folding square consisting of two members each having its meetingedge mitered, one of said members having in its mithat their ends willbe flush with its surface, thus offering no projections on either sidethereof. By forming one edge of the key 21 with the beveled-edgedrecesses 22 it is apl parent that a lateral and longitudinal projection25 will be produced on the key, and by l reference to Fig. 6 it will beseen that its ends as well as its edge is downwardly beveled.

By placing the key 21 in the depression 17 of the member 10 it isevident that its outer edge will engage the dovetailed wall of the saiddepression and one of the dovetailed walls of the groove 14 in thetongue 13, while bolts 23 and Mwhich will hold the key movably inposition in the recess of the member 10. vWhen the key 21 occupies theposition shown in Fig. 2, it is apparent that its reduced portion willnot engage the walls of the groove 14 in the tongue 13, thus permittingthe member 1 1 to be detached from the other member, but by placing themembers in the position shown in Fig. 2 and moving the key 21 to theposition shown in Fig. 1 ofthe drawings it is obvious that by reason ofthe wedge shape of the key it will enga'geboth walls of i the groove 14in the tongue 13, as well as the dovetailed wall 2O of the recess 17 andthe screws or bolts 23 and 24, thus firmly locking depressed recessintersecting said opening, a headed bolt located at one side of the depressed recess on each side of said opening, a rectangular-shaped tongueon the mitered portion of the other member having a tapered anddovetailed transverse groove, and a tapered dovetailed and recessed keymovably located in the said depressed recess and said groove of thetongueY substantially as described.

the members 10 and 11 together.

By reference to Figs. 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the drawings it will be seenthat shoulders will be roduced on each side of the ribs or tongues 1S,which will abut against shoulders on each side of the grooves 19,respectively7 so that when the key 21 is forced JOHN SMlTl-l.

Witnesses CHAs. C. TILLMAN,

to the position M. A. NYMAN.

tered portion a rectangular opening and a

